Question on Blade Shape...Tea & Vinegar Stain Picture Added?

[tippit]

In searching 18th century knives, I found a few that had Osage handles...Osage & Curly Maple being my favorite knife handles.  Here is a thirteen inch OAL with eight inch blade that I previously forged. 

Question: Was this blade shape with a false top edge ever seen in longer 18th century blades like a rifleman's knife?  Or is this just too modern looking even if the blade was stained?  tippit

[tippit]

Tea & Vinegar Stain really changed to color of the Osage to almost Walnut.

Left click on picture to enlarge...

[WadePatton]

I much love the natural colors of Osage and would never colorize it.  I've made numerous things with it.

[tippit]

Wade,
I also make Osage selfbows and have tons of it.  It will turn that color with age & sunlight.  Still just trying to figure out period style knives. 

Black bear harvested with one my Osage selfbows and a knapped flint arrow head...

[smylee grouch]

Nice job on the bear. How much penetration did you get with that set up?

[Levy]

The southeast and southwest were Spanish for a longtime before the English arrived.  Look at the Spanish belduque.  It is a heavy bladed knife(what we call a French knife today) with a long false edge on the top.  James Levy

[tippit]

smylee grouch,
With the head as large as it is, I thought it would bounce off...complete pass through! Bear went about 25 yards.  I mostly use my own forged broadheads...








Levy,
Thanks for the info on those Spanish belduque knives.

[wattlebuster]

Thats a shore nuff purty bear. To me though thats about 2 gallons of bear oil you got there. Liquid gold

[tippit]

wattlebuster,
I've shot a dozen of them with my longbow including three Pope & Youngers.  One was so fat that the meat was all grease.  Here's one with a lot of your liquid gold...330# Quebec spring bear.  Oops, I guess I got a bit off topic here

[smylee grouch]

Thanks for the pics of those forged broadheads, gives me some ideas. 

[tippit]

smylee,
If you shoot carbons, forge out a post and just slip in down the shaft.  Warning: broadheads take longer than forging a knife as they need to hit a specific weight and spin true.

[tippit]

Back to the original post.  The Osage stained out a black olive color that I really like.

[Black Hand]

Why do you have that swale in the last half of the barrel? To me, it would reduce the effectiveness of the blade.

[tippit]

Black Hand, 
You mean in the handle?  Your hand fits in there like a glove with no slipping.  It is just a shape thing. If you are doing a big knife a swell really helps with the grip.  This is a big knife I would use for hunting hogs at night.  Bow has a red light for night time hunting...legal in SC.



When you forge out a lot of knives, you get tired of the same old shapes.  When I'm forging, I don't know what I'm going to come up with.  When I have to repeat a series of the same knife, I hate it.  I just sent out three hunting knives for a father and his two son...all the same.  It drove me nuts to finish that project.  That's why I'm having so much fun forging and finishing a new style of knife...

[EricEwing]

I dig the variety and creativity of your output and the archery bear hunting, thanks for sharing your stuffs.